Fox Sports will continue to telecast the Daytona 500 and 12 other Sprint Cup races as part of an eight-year contract extension between Fox and NASCAR, the companies announced today.

According to the SportsBusiness Journal, Fox will increase its payment to NASCAR by approximately 36 percent, from $1.76 billion for their current eight-year deal, which expires in 2014, to $2.4 billion from 2015-2022.

The deal marks the first increase Fox has paid in more than a decade for its NASCAR rights. It’s average annual rights fees will increase from $220 million to more than $300 million in 2015, despite a decline in TV ratings the past few years, according to SBJ.

Fox did not specify which Cup races will be televised on Fox and which will be on its cable channels, although NASCAR Vice President of Broadcasting Steve Herbst said the Daytona 500 will remain on network television. Fox has shown the first 13 Cup races of the season on network television since 2007.

“We’ll have some time to get out all the details on that and all the different ways that could look,” Herbst said in an interview with Sporting News on Monday. “It crosses over their Fox Sports Media Group. … They have such strength across all their platforms and offerings, we’re confident with the deal across the board that it’s great for the fans.

“Our sport traditionally has worked well on both network and cable so we feel good about it.”

The deal includes the rights for Fox to stream its telecasts on Fox-affiliated websites beginning in 2013. Fox does have the right to put such online streaming behind a pay wall, Herbst said.

While declining comment on the financial details of the deal, Herbst confirmed that there was an increase in rights fees and the ability to stream online was a “pretty good piece of it” as far as the attractiveness of the deal for Fox.

“The sport is in great shape — the ratings are cyclical so we deal with that on a year-in, year-out basis,” Herbst said. “But it does speak to the ability of the sport and the future is really bright. It puts a stamp on Fox’s commitment and belief in our sport.”

“NASCAR has been in very good hands and has enjoyed tremendous success the last 12 years in large part because of our fantastic partnership with Fox and Fox Sports Media Group,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to be able to extend our relationship in such a significant way for our track partners, race teams and, most importantly, our millions of loyal and passionate fans. This extension with Fox Sports Media Group helps position the sport for future growth as NASCAR continues to be an anchor with one of the world’s largest and most influential media companies.”

In addition to the first 13 Cup races of the season, Fox also retained the rights to the Sprint All-Star Race and the Daytona 500 qualifying races (which had been on Speed) as well as the preseason Shootout at Daytona. Fox also kept the rights to the Camping World Truck Series through 2022 and will have rights to rebroadcast its races.

Not mentioned in the news release is what will happen to Fox’s Speed TV network. Fox plans to turn Speed into an all-sports channel called Fox Sports One but has released no details about the move nor about how much NASCAR programming will be part of the all-sports channel.

“I can’t talk too much about it right now,” Herbst said. “Speed is a great partner. … We enjoy that partnership. It has deep roots here (with us).

“The good news is that Fox Sports Media Group has such a deep portfolio of outlets. They reach a lot of people out there — TV, digital. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone with a greater and deeper platform than what they have.”

The deal with Fox is only one portion of the annual NASCAR television rights. NASCAR’s deal with current partners ESPN and Turner also ends after the 2014 season and those networks still need to negotiate new deals. They are expected to get competition from NBC — which announced Monday that it had obtained the rights to Formula One, which previously had been held by Fox — for future broadcast rights. The current 2007-2014 deal is worth a total of $4.48 billion at an average of $560 million a year, according to track operator International Speedway Corp.

The negotiating window with ESPN and Turner has not opened and discussions have not begun “in earnest yet,” Herbst said. He said negotiations are generally based off the current 36-race Cup schedule.

“NBC has a terrific appetite for sports and high quality of life sports,” Herbst said. “They’re doing some great things over there. (But) we’re very, very at the moment interested in talking to our current guys to see where they are.”

NASCAR’s current broadcast formula, which was implemented when it took over the television rights negotiations from the tracks in 2001, calls for 65 percent to go to the tracks, 25 percent to the competitors (through the race purse) and 10 percent to NASCAR.

“We’re extremely happy to have worked closely with Brian and his team at NASCAR over the last few months to expand and extend our relationship for what is without question the most popular motorsport in the country,” Fox Sports Media Group Co-Presidents Eric Shanks and Randy Freer said in a statement.

“NASCAR has been a staple at Fox for more than a decade and we consider it one of the signature sports we cover. With our commitment renewed, we look forward to presenting NASCAR thoroughly, professionally and creatively for many years to come.”